I feel as they though we as a shrimp community need to start grading our crs/cbs shrimp differently. Currently, when you buy S, S+, SS, or SSS shrimp the quality can vary immensely. From my understanding the current system only takes into account pattern but lacks any information about the intensity of white or leg coloration. Therefore, I propose to sellers, like myself, to include this information in the grading and eventually it will catch on.

I've come up with a class system that is included with the mention of "grade" or in other words pattern.

"Class AARR Grade SSS" which would have a very opaque exoskeleton with solid bright white and red/black coloring, solid red legs, and SSS pattern.

Or

"Class CT grade SSS" which would have transparent coloration and transparent legs despite the SSS pattern.

By adding the "class", you can tell a whole lot more about the quality of shrimp you are offering to potential buyers and it will demolish the terms such as Pure Red Line and Pure Line which have become nothing more than marketing terms for many sellers.

Feel free to tell me if this is stupid and unnecessary but I feel as though it would help buyers/breeders know exactly what they are getting.

On the other hand, sellers can use these tactics to offer more expensive shrimp with patterns and coloration that is harder to come by without referring to PRL which doesn't even begin to describe the quality of the shrimp these days.

I've come to notice the more you get on the scale of solid colors, like brilliant white, the higher you go in terms of solid legs.

I think your system is interesting, but in a system which already confuses some, that muddies the water.

I would counter propose a number system. If SS means no entry for the most part, take an SS shrimp which isn't greatly colored, but it is relatively solid. Give that an SS-3. One that has full red legs, full white with no yellowing, full red, SS-10. One that has splotches and the red is lacking, SS-1.

That could be applied to all grades, and if someone decided on exactly what made the difference between 1-2 and so on, it'd eventually get accepted.

I've come to notice the more you get on the scale of solid colors, like brilliant white, the higher you go in terms of solid legs.

I think your system is interesting, but in a system which already confuses some, that muddies the water.

I would counter propose a number system. If SS means no entry for the most part, take an SS shrimp which isn't greatly colored, but it is relatively solid. Give that an SS-3. One that has full red legs, full white with no yellowing, full red, SS-10. One that has splotches and the red is lacking, SS-1.

That could be applied to all grades, and if someone decided on exactly what made the difference between 1-2 and so on, it'd eventually get accepted.

I doubt anything will change, however. Nice suggestion though.

This could actually be a better idea. Less letters and hard to manipulate with larger scale. Although I think the letters is a good way to note the leg coloration since that can vary even with more opaque shrimp.

Its just too difficult to gauge when someone only gives s references. The quality can vary quite a bit. Of course a new way of grading will take a while to catch on, but I feel like this needs to be discussed.

I personally just sell all my transparent shrimp as culls and keep the opaque ones for my breeding stock.

I just think it would be nice to have a name/grade for entry level shrimp up to show quality without leaving the middle variations up to a persons own interpretation.

I wouldn't worry about color intensity because in near future transparent CRS will be perish anyway. Right now speedie has some non-prl CRS that has almost the same color intensity as pure lines (for like 3 bucks).

Since I doubt CRS price will go under a dollar, the shrimp market will fix itself eliminating transparent color CRS away for sale.

I wouldn't worry about color intensity because in near future transparent CRS will be perish anyway. Right now speedie has some non-prl CRS that has almost the same color intensity as pure lines (for like 3 bucks).

Since I doubt CRS price will go under a dollar, the shrimp market will fix itself eliminating transparent color CRS away for sale.

I personally think there is quite a bit of variation between speedies CRS and true show quality pure red lines. He does have some very high quality shrimp though.

I have to agree with this.....but if you look at the quality of say low priced CRS S grades 3 years ago to low priced CRS S grades today, you'll notice an extreme difference in color quality.

So I do believe sayurasem observations are partially true

Partially, of course, but at the same time the best has gotten even better. I remember seeing msnikki's SSS flower head shrimp back in the day and thinking they were absolutely stunning! That's pretty easy to come by these days but the top notch lines are leagues ahead in the quality of color since then. I should add that top notch shrimp are readily available if you have the coin. I however, don't think the price will come down very quickly since most people that buy them, do so to sell them for a similar high price.

I have a select few shrimp that posses an INTENSE white that sticks out like a sore thumb when feeding compared to the rest of the colony that is still pretty opaque white. I personally feel as though it is definitely a more desirable attribute and took almost 4 years now to accomplish. Personally, I'd like the price of extremely high quality shrimp to remain high to keep them exclusive. At the same time, I'd like to see mid grade shrimp become more accessible to the masses in order to introduce people to the hobby with shrimp worth looking at. Therefore I carry a wide variety of grades and such and sell to my local fish store.

Purelines A grades in comparison to the typical pattern grades are rated by color intensity and pattern which demand the premium.

With that said, one would be hard pressed to get any near accuracy as many hobbyits are overly generous with their rating of their own stock. e.g. painted fire red shrimp that are often marketed as PFR which often have clearish shells of red tint but are a far cry from the opaque shells of the parents. There is an undeniable truth to the lineage of being Painted Fire red but lesser to the fact that they will ever rear offspring to near quality of their forefathers.

The same goes for the sales tactic that S or SS grade shrimp with SSS parents. A zombie shrimp apocalypse may have higher probability than S or SS grades having SSS grade offspring...

Its more likely that the original pattern grade shrimp was true to form until hobbyists started to heavily inbreed their colonies without factoring genetic diversity to strengthen the finer qualities of their stock, hence the dilution of coloring and patterning and an overall breakdown in the market over the past few years. The same trends are visibly evident in OEBT breeds.

what has come to pass isnt that the breeds are easier to keep but rather the hobby is saturated with shrimp specific products proven to make the hobby easier, which can also be observed in the Reef hobby as well.

perhaps a more practical approach, which has come to pass with honest hobbyists are being forthcoming with the quality of stock available for sale. if they are culls, there's no need to further clarify as the weakened coloring or attributes are applied. It should not lessen the value of these shrimps as there is a market on all levels of expertise today. Being an avid crs keeper for several years, i have tanks with high grades, and community tanks of lesser grades whom freely frolic with nano fish of all species and are viewed in a more natural setting which is both aesthetically pleasing to witness and a joy to have such diversity all in a single large tank. the truth is, a lesser "graded" crystal actually looks gorgeous when its peers aren't all the same and allowed to grow to maturity reaching full coloration, and size. shell thickness, length of antenna, and even their personality to a larger extent can be improved through the environment and diet so i encourage people to broaden their view of keeping and depreciate the emphasis on the grades alone. Having an open mind does do wonders.

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